


Somewhere in the middle

by icemakestars



Series: Learning to love [2]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Fluff, M/M, That's it, i make myself ill, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 07:44:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2843477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icemakestars/pseuds/icemakestars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>6 years after they originally confessed their feelings to each other. Gray and Natsu continue on their life as if nothing has happened. But then an unexpected turn of events with Lucy causes old feelings to resurface, and the pair are forced to decide where they stand, once and for all.</p>
<p>Set when Natsu is 17 and Gray is 18.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Somewhere in the middle

**Author's Note:**

> It's finally here! A year after the first part was originally updated, but still... it's here^^  
> Originally this had smut in, but then I wrote it and it just... didn't seem to fit. I'll probably add that as a little extra after I upload part three (which should be before a whole year aha!).  
> If you like/love/hate this, then please leave a comment! They inspire me to write, so part three will come quicker (if you even want a part three!  
> Disclaimer: These characters are not mine and belong to Hiro Mashima etc.
> 
> Oh, and...
> 
> MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAVE A GOOD ONE, EVERYONE!

The next time they say it,  Natsu  is 17 and  Gray  is 18. 

Natsu  grumbled his annoyance as he slumped into one of the new, wooden stools the guild had recently replaced. Fairy Tail was famous for it's aggressive brawls, so broken furniture had become the norm for its members. These particular stools were lost due to the careless squabbling between  Natsu  and  Gray , also something which the guild members had become accustomed to. He sighed and folded his arms behind his head, a habit he developed early in his childhood, and one he could not seem to break. Not even the smell of  Mirajane's  fire chicken could lift his spirits (although it did serve to make the maverick more aware of his grumbling stomach, a fact which only aggravated him even more).  

His  slanty  eyes, now drawn into a juvenile scowl, scanned the dusty guild hall, and he audibly groaned when he realised that there was nobody present in Fairy Tail whom he could take out his poorly suppressed aggression on.  

"Hey, Macao, Wakaba! Do you know where  Erza , that Metal-Head, and old Droopy-Eyes are today?" He inquired. The elders had become so accustomed to  Natsu's  general immaturity, they didn't bother commenting on his childish nicknames for  Gajeel  and  Gray .  

" Gajeel  left on a job with Lily this morning, and  Erza  is helping  Mirajane  bake a cake for Wendy's birthday next week." Wakaba supplied helpfully, his tongue rolling his pipe around his mouth as he spoke. 

"And  Gray ?"  Natsu  growled eagerly, flames of anticipation dancing on his skin as he thought about a brawl with the ice wizard. Boy, did  Natsu  hope that  Gray  was still in Magnolia. 

"He's out on some shopping errands, I think?" Macao offered before turning away from the Dragon Slayer, resuming his conversation with Wakaba.  Natsu  overheard some perverted comment about the 'spritely girls' in the guild, and shuddered. Learning Macao and Wakaba's sick fantasies was not on his list of priorities. Pretty far from it, in fact. 

Natsu  started out on a run, his misdirected rage spurring him to push himself harder, faster. He continued out of the guild, and ran until he met the body of water which flowed through the town. He followed it, his thighs burning with an unfamiliar kind of flame as he relied only on his own endurance, not his magic or brute strength. The streets passed him in blurs of fruit sellers, children chasing one another and unprofessional magic users. The crowd thickened around the dragon slayer, and it was only when he received several sideways glares and disapproving 'tuts' that he finally relented, slowing down to a fast walk.  

The shop the 17 year old was stood outside was a magic shop- one of the only ones in Magnolia- and it was advertising a new range of items, none of which interested  Natsu  in the slightest. Things such as a hat which changed the colour of your hair, a bracelet which made you immune to headaches, a ring which doubled as a house key; all respectful items, but none that would be much use to the fire wizard. In the centre of the garish assortment was a Celestial key. A silver one- one that  Natsu  didn't bother reading the whole name of- and he knew that Lucy wasn't contracted with whatever eccentric individualist that belonged to the key. 

Lucy.  Natsu  frowned instantly as thoughts of his best friend flooded his mind. He shook his unruly pink head as the anger bubbled up once again, and willed those thoughts away. He moved onwards, glancing briefly at his surroundings and trying to identify his team mate in the muddle of bodies which moved expertly around him.  

He was ambling purposefully through the herd of people when he heard a very distinctive 'shit' sounding from a nearby alleyway. The voice was deep and hoarse, and sounded incredibly familiar. Just hearing it made him instantly angrier, so the dragon slayer was reasonably certain that it could only belong to one person. He raised his nose and sniffed the air, trying to determine whether it was definitely  Gray  or not, but the large group surrounding him- and all the produce they clung to- tainted the air around him, making it impossible to latch onto any one singular scent.  

Honouring a 'what the hell' way of thinking and shrugging in a similar vein, the 17 year old swerved down the damp alley in search of his oldest rival. The air was crisp and thick with many disgusting smells which blurred together in his nostrils as he inhaled, the main scents being urine and rotting food.  Natsu  gagged. He swept his gaze hastily over the end of the alley, not wanting to waste any time in such a vile place. Doubled over at the end of the thin strip of road was, in fact,  Gray . He wore nothing but his boxer briefs (which didn't phase nor surprise the dragon slayer in the slightest, as it was essentially all  Gray  wore), and had a very irked scowl contorting his otherwise handsome features. He reached forward and clawed vaguely at the air in front of him, and swore again when he dropped his hands to his sides. The ice wizard repeated this bizarre display for several moments, and  Natsu  watched in silent amusement until the rage he had been suppressing bubbled once again. 

"What the hell are you doing?" He bit out.  Gray  jumped back and yelped loudly, before spinning around and instantly making a battle stance. When he saw who was behind him,  Gray's  body visibly relaxed. His face, however, still wore the same scowl from moments ago.  

"Chasing an invisible cat."  Gray  answered.  Natsu  blinked twice in shock, his eyes widening and jaw falling slack. When the ice wizard realised that an explanation was needed, he gave an exaggerated sigh and spoke on. "A little girl in the square was crying; she'd lost her cat. She spilt some potion on it and now it's invisible, and then it ran off. I couldn't leave a child crying on their own, so I agreed to help her find the bloody thing. What are you doing here, anyway?"  

"Watching an idiot bastard make a dick of himself... again."  Natsu  smirked. He reluctantly took a large inhale of the stale air around him before continuing. "There are no cats around here, anyway." 

"Dammit! I've been wasting my time here."  Gray  groaned. As he turned to walk past  Natsu  and walk on the main street again, he caught the dragon slayer's gaze. "Say, is something wrong?" He asked hesitantly, unsure if his instincts were correct. Normally  Natsu  would have challenged him to a fight by now, or said something so undeniably stupid. The lack of brash laughter and juvenile insults concerned the ice wizard, as did the distant look in the dragon slayer's eyes. 

"I came here to fight you,'  Natsu  smiled sadly and ran his fingers over the rough scales of  Igneel's  scarf, 'but now I guess I'm not feeling it." He shrugged meekly.  Gray  halted.  

"What's happened?" His tone was wary. 

"It's... Lucy."  Natsu  mumbled, a dusting of pink showing on the planes of his cheeks.  Gray  was immediately concerned, but bit back the worries which threatened to spill from his mouth when he realised that, if something was seriously wrong with his blonde friend,  Natsu  would have said something by now.  Gray  let the silence stretch out for a few moments longer, ensuring that he asked the right question. "What happened between the two of you?" The light breeze carried his soft words, and  Natsu  was sure that, without his animalistic hearing, he would have missed their gentle tone. 

"Cana asked if she wanted to team up for a while. Lucy came and told me immediately- of course I expected her to turn down the offer- but she insisted that a change might do us both some good." He shrugged meekly and turned his face away, jaw rigid and eyes burning. 

Gray  sighed, not sure what to say in a situation such as this one. No words would be comforting enough, no action sincere enough. He knew that  Natsu  and Wendy- possibly  Gajeel  as well- had issues with abandonment. This situation with Lucy, the feeling of being left behind by someone you loved, had to be resurfacing long suppressed emotions inside  Natsu , and  Gray  had no idea how to make this even slightly easier. 

But then he realised. The colours in the sky were warm. Shades of auburn and amber and rose streaked the blue, and in the right light on the right hillside, the sky appeared to be on fire. The tones seeped warmth but the air was cool. It was crisp and dewy and held promises of the winter. It was autumn, but only just autumn. The winter did not bite yet, but it threatened to. It was stubborn and beautiful, and reminded  Gray  so much of  Natsu , despite the startling contrast between fire and frost. And that's how  Gray  knew. It was that time of year again, how could he have missed it? The time of year where  Natsu  worked a little harder, took more jobs than usual. He seemed chipper somehow, more energetic. He laughed louder, smiled wider. And cried more. Alone, where no one could find him, didn’t even know where to start looking, he would be there, with damp eyes and heaving breaths. Whether it be behind a group of shrubbery, up a tall tree. In front of a flowing river. 

Gray  started, so many ideas and memories welling up inside his mind at once. Some of them he had been too young to remember clearly, others he had just made an effort to forget. One day in particular stood out for the boy, and his chest tightened recalling it. He had been so young, and despite all he had been through still held a certain amount of naivety. He had genuinely believed that a relationship between  Natsu  himself would work out, that their 'love' would be enough. 

He smiled darkly, no trace of humour in his eyes. After they had confessed their feelings for one another, the pair had continued as though nothing had passed between them. They were more awkward, blushing and stuttering if they found themselves within a two meter radius of one another, but that slowly faded with time and old rivalries began to boil once again. In the end,  Gray  had pushed it to the back of his mind. It was a fond memory that he thought on with a bittersweet smile, but was no more than that. And would never be,  Gray  realised with a sickening jolt, if one of them did not speak out now.  

His love for  Natsu  felt like a sand timer. Every admirable or adorable moment he shared with the dragon slayer was a grain of sand, and over the years those grains had stacked and stacked until they were bursting the timer, cracking the glass and slowly seeping out. And now he felt like it was time to turn the timer on its head, change the flow of his love and the direction of their relationship.  

With a shaking breath,  Gray  found the ability to speak once more, "Say,  Natsu , do you remember that day when we were kids?.."  Gray  trailed off nervously.  Natsu  cocked his head to the side in questioning, curious as to where this change of topic was coming from so suddenly. 

"There were quite a few of those,  Gray ." He huffed in sarcastic irritation.  Gray  sighed again. Of all the idiots he had to pick to fall for... 

"No, I mean, around this time about... five years ago? Maybe six. You must have been 11, or something. We sat by the river and... talked. Do you remember?"  

The difference between  Natsu  looking puzzled and him knowing exactly what  Gray  was referring to would have amused the ice wizard in other circumstances. But the situation was not different and the look of startled horror which froze on  Natsu's  face made  Gray's  insides feels like stones. "Why... are you bringing that up?" His voice was guided, unsure. It held no note on how he felt about  Gray  now. 

"Because never, not for one day, or a fraction of a day, have I stopped loving you."  Gray  said in earnest honesty. He knew he could fight battles and win wars, but laying himself bare, despite how emotionally vulnerable it made him, was the greatest bravery of all. 

Even so,  Gray  felt afraid. This could backfire horribly, and ruin not only his relationship with  Natsu , but also with the other members of his team, and the people in the guild. All of the melancholy the situation taunted poisoned  Gray's  mind, and he couldn't decide if having  Natsu  re j e c t him blatantly, or having the maverick simply laugh it off, would be better than not saying anything at all. He decided the latter, and regretted his actions. He glared at the ground and cursed softly under his breath.  

He waited. Whatever reaction he was going to summon from  Natsu  he was prepared for. Seconds passed. He took a sharp intake of breath, wondering why the dragon slayer had not reacted yet. It was only when the sound of shaky breaths and muffled sobs did the ice wizard snap his head up in confusion. He didn't have time to process the red rims surrounding  Natsu's  eyes, or the tears that flowed from them, as a piping hot body was suddenly impacting with his own, knocking him off balance and sending them both crashing to the ground.  

Natsu  buried his head into the crook of  Gray's  shoulder, breath puffing out against his collarbone and tears dampening his pale skin.  Gray  chuckled to himself and softly ran his fingers through the unruly pink spikes that cogged his vision, an act which only made  Natsu  cry harder.  

"Should I take this as a positive sign, or?.."  Gray  playfully remarked. 

"A-all this t-time... I thought you were  joki -ng when we were k-kids! B- ut  you feel the same  wa -y I do!"  Natsu  wailed, not even attempting to control his breathing.  Gray  grinned impishly. 

"So, you're saying you love me back?" 

"I do! S-so much!"  

Gray  tilted  Natsu's  chin slightly and did the one thing he was too afraid to do when they were kids. He slotted their lips together, slowly so that he did not take  Natsu  too much by surprise. The fire wizard reacted immediately, clutching  Gray's  shoulders in a desperate need and letting his eyelids flutter shut.  

They remained in that position for what seemed to be their own personal infinity, despite both of their realisation that the floor- the mucky, reeking, cold floor- of an alleyway was not the most romantic place to host their first kiss. That did not matter to the duo, all that was important was their touches and kisses and the smiles which passed between their lips. 

Gray  pulled back and cupped  Natsu's  cheek, his face flushing when he saw the red, swollen, kiss-bitten lips and dazed look  Natsu  was sporting. Shaking all indecent and immoral thoughts momentarily out of his mind, he voiced a proposition. "Why don't we team up for a while, just us two?  Erza  enjoys taking solo missions herself, and Happy is often too lazy or too preoccupied trying to win Charla's affections to be motivated to take jobs..." He trailed off awkwardly, not sure if he should mention Lucy and her teaming up with Cana. He did not need to ponder on that long, as  Natsu  surged up and sealed their lips together once again.  

"I would really like that." He breathed. 

"Me too."  Gray  smiled lazily.  

The barrels closest to them wobbled slightly, and a high-pitched keening sound could be heard from the same direction.  Gray  frowned, wondering what could possibly be hiding in a place as seedy as an alleyway. He didn't like the answers he conjured up.  Gray  saw  Natsu  sniff the air once, an automatic response he had to any possible threat, and then burst into spurts of hysterical laughter. 

" Natsu , what the hell?"  

"Why were you back here in the first place,  Gray ?"  Natsu  chortled out between chokes of laughter whilst  Gray  began to backtrack in his mind. Why had he?... Oh!  

"Don't tell me..."  Gray  glared at the barrels. 

"I think the cat has made its way back to where its saviour."  Natsu  grinned happily and stood up, offering his hand to the still slouching ice mage.  Gray  took it sheepishly, a blush coating his cheeks. They made eye contacted and blushed heavily in unison, turning their faces away. It was the same juvenile embarrassment they held when they were children, but  Gray  knew that this time it would be different. They would not run away from their emotions, because now they were too strong. They were a large entity, powerful and mighty and all-consuming. And yet,  Gray  was happy to succumb to that, peel away all of the pretences and give himself to the beast. Because  Natsu  would be right by his side, doing the exact same thing. As the dragon slayer reached behind the barrels and scooped up an invisible feline,  Gray  couldn't help the content smile that passed his lips. They were in this together, and that was a fact so definite, it resonated throughout his heart and mind and body, and filled him up with glee. 


End file.
